Wade Johnston, Life Under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis: MO, 2025.
This ancient “tale of two mothers” concerns far more than theological semantics—it is the difference between a God who sends and a God who comes.
This story points us from our unlikely heroes to the even more unlikely, and joyous, good news that Jesus’ birth for us was just as unlikely and unexpected.

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Instead of a “how-to” manual, the Bible is a “what-you-didn’t-do” story.
Christ is always the ultimate for God's children, but we sometimes struggle with things that come before.
Show me a sinner, and I’ll write you a story of a God who saves them.
No matter how many times we hear this good news, it never stops being good news.
Our faith is precisely where Paul puts it, namely, in the blood of Christ.
To preach Christ and him crucified is to keep the message simple and accessible.
Jesus Christ is relentless. He does not give up. And with him comes the certainty of redemption.
The story of Jesus's temptation has much more to offer than merely giving us a "how-to" guide on kicking Satan to the curb.
Let your soul grieve, yes, but don’t let it be eaten alive by worry.
The sinful nature loves self, and pride is its native tongue.
What is it about the cross and its embrace of shame that informs and inspires Christians, who, for various reasons, might find themselves inscribed by shame, to no longer be shameful?
This article is part of Stephen Paulson’s series on the Psalms.